DocAndersen
Today, a picture of the Black Hills Recreation area, lake. The lake is much smaller today than it was ten years ago. In part that is because a large number of feeder streams have been rerouted. What reroutes a stream of water? Well normally it is either a beaver, Black Hills has a few, but they are in the actual lake area and not building dams stopping the streams, or humans and concrete. The concept of concrete is interesting. Let’s start with a history lesson of changing water flow. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The devastation was horrible. The problem, for that area, was that one of the swampy areas around New Orleans had been drained and there was human construction. Swamps absorb a lot of water rapidly. No wamp, too much water.
In the case of the lake for the Black Hills, there is the other side of that. The reality of concrete and ultimately the impact of concrete. Previously the recreation area lake was fed by streams that gathered water from the entire area, carrying it to the lake. The Army Corps of Engineers, created a dam to reduce the flooding in that area. Now, in the ensuing years, that area has exploded. BY exploded the lake itself has now some homes built around it. But more importantly, when you consider drainage basin, you have to go 2-3 and more miles away to determine where the water is coming from. There is a great sign, replicated some times in the Rocky mountains. Water on this site goes to the Mississippi. Water on the other side of the line goes to the Pacific Ocean.
It is a very complex explanation of a simple problem. There is now a shopping mall (with lots of parking and parking lots). There is a huge series of four new developments — lots of houses, lots of concrete less flow of water. The resulting changes push the water away from the black Hills recreation reservoir. It is the reality of expansion. The parking lots from the new mall all drain into a stream that heads parallel to where the water used to go. Two of the four new subdivisions of houses, drain into the new flow pattern created by the mall. The reality is more than 30% of the lake’s water is now heading away from the lake. When you add evaporation, the lake is declining now because of that.
Amy Grant sings a beautiful song that has a line “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
The reality of parking, malls, and hours is that water flows change.
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Question of
Did you know that removing swamps in New Orleans was part of the reason why Katrina was so bad?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you ever walk by a parking lot and wonder, where does that water go?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Does one lake dying bother you?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
does water conservation matter?
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Yes
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No
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Last year the lake that I walk to almost every day was nothing more than a puddle, well a big puddle, but the worst I had seen in the 20 years we have had this place too. I sat there and cried.
we have a huge issue with the overall water flow in Maryland. The lake in the pictures is dying, but the lake just down the road, has to have water let out of the dam nearly every week it is overflowing.
Very interesting article dealing with vital issues!!! Sure that water conservation matters, it’s one of the biggest modern problems.
the issue now is useable water – versus salt water!
With the mention of water flow what I recall is the flood in our place.
that is the end result. The funny thing is, we had flooding problems where I live for years. Now they are creating the same problem again.
Sad.
Sorry about your flood.
In my opinion, we should take a much better view of water resources. When there is no water, it will be too late.
the problem isn’t lack of water, the problem is clean water. I am and many others are, very concerned that we are moving water in ways that wasn’t intended.
My thinking is that any intervention in nature is a change for the environment … be it water or forests or just meadows
that is truly the issue we have now. We plan the world, then change the plan and frankly I am not sure we were meant to do either.
With us, no one asks you … just do your own thing … it only sticks to the private land when some refuse to sell it … but if the state property works as they see fit … they don’t pay much attention to the environment. … they only write and talk about it, but they do something else
a wise man once said it doesn’t matter how high you fall, only how high you bounce.
It is not what we’ve done – it is what we will do!
Yeah, that’s it, dear friend
I know the Amy Grant song well. And she is so right. I remember this happening in New Orleans. Made a bad situation worse.
It was a really bad idea, that made a really bad situation even worse. Water has to go somewhere.
Nobody had a clue what to do about that (below sea level) city. Still don’t as far as I know.
They have allowed the wetlands to return which should over time reduce some of the risk.
But there are many cities below sea level that are at risk
Yes water conservation really does matter in 21st century since the water resources inside the earth slowly and gradually reducing and water going deeper.
Huh? that is factually incorrect. The water table is rising not going down.